Micere Keels

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago. I have spent over 20 years working to integrate mental health promotion interventions into K-12 educational systems, from early childhood centers to high schools.

In 2016, I launched the Trauma Responsive Educational Practices Project (TREP Project) to develop the individual and organizational capacity of educators and schools serving children growing up in distressed neighborhoods. These children are often exposed to high levels of toxic stress, such as violent crime, concentrated poverty, concentrated foster care involvement, and housing instability. The TREP Project has supported the professional development of over 200,000 educators through school district partnerships in Delaware, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island, and through work with many individual schools across the U.S. Learn more at www.TREPEducator.org

I am also the author of Campus Counterspaces: Black and Latinx Students' Search for Community at Historically White Universities. This book emerged from my frustration with the flood of news articles and opinion pieces that were skeptical of minority students' experiences of discrimination at college. I provide a detailed account of how racial and ethnic identity structures Black and Latinx students' college experiences and what universities can do to change. Learn more about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at www.campus-counterspaces.com